Sadly, many chareidi MKs are less concerned about putting the right man for the job in the presidency and more concerned with spiting Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and his coalition allies.
When Reuven Rivlin announced his candidacy, it was believed that he would automatically receive the frum vote due to his family roots, lifestyle and closeness to the religious community. It now appears however that after the prime minister has officially endorsed Rivlin as his candidate; this may not be the case. The chareidi lawmakers would like to embarrass the prime minister by showing his candidate for the presidency was defeated.
Some chareidi lawmakers explain that in addition, they are angry at Rivlin, who made a point of returning to Israel in time to vote in favor of the new draft law. Others feel that the draft law would have passed in any event and Rivlin has a long history of being a friend of the frum community.
It appears that in the bizarre world known as Israeli politics chareidi MKs are working to build a solid bloc that will back Labor party candidate Binyamin Ben-Eliezer. They feel that he too is a friend of the religious community and voting for him permits them to defy the prime minister along with Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid. Lapid announced that he would not support Ben-Eliezer’s candidacy for presidency after he boycotted Knesset votes on important bills sponsored by Yesh Atid. Ben-Eliezer also fought against including criminal sanctions in the new draft law and he strongly opposed the current state budget, as did the chareidim.
There are some who feel the chareidim will vote for Dalia Itzik, a former Knesset speaker who has been a political ally of the chareidim too and shares their socialist values as does Ben-Eliezer. MK Moshe Gafne and others have already commented that Gedolei Yisrael have stated in the past there is nothing prohibiting them from electing a woman president. And last but not least there is MK Yaakov Litzman, who has publically announced he is voting for Rivlin.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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10 Responses
Socialist values? Give me a break. What does charedi style leadership and work habits have to do with socialism. There must be top secret socialist yeshivas that nobody is aware of. Plus I guess every body comes together to make religious decisions. Learning all day and not working is not a socialist lifestyle. The only truth to the article is they want to vote for somebody whom they believe will allow their life style to thrive. Imagine a charedi kibbutz. The cows would have to milk themselves!
Sadly?! Why sadly? The President is merely a puppet and represents nothing. It doesn’t matter who’s there. He’s going to spout the party line no matter what. The Charedim have been stabbed in the back by the entire echelon of the 3 musketeers: Bibi, Bennet, and Lapidus. So if they have the opportunity to put some salt on Bibi’s wounds, why not?
Why begin this article with “Sadly”?
Is this a chareidi site? It should be explaining the position of the chareidi parties, not starting out by questioning their position.
If all the candidates are equally qualified, or equally unqualified, or if the position itself is so irrelevant that no qualifications are necessary, then what’s wrong with taking advantage of the election to advance our goals?
Cutting off their noses to spite their faces. And people wonder why the Chareidi MKs are not taken seriously…
an Israeli Yid
Baale Hagan….. complete sewerage actions.
I wont vote for you because….. I wont vote for you since this party is your friend….I will vote for you cause you did such and such…. I will vote for you to destroy the coalition….If you support us, I will vote and wont vote for him/her.
Anyone interested in having a pleasant/true Jewish face as the President of Israel. Anyone interested in having a president that eats Kosher at all times and will bring Kavod to our mesorah. Any one interested in a President who is a unifier and get along with others and treats people with RESPECT. Since we know the answer is NO!!!…why not go for the extreme and vote for an Arab President for Israel???????
#3- “Is this a chareidi site? It should be explaining the position of the chareidi parties, not starting out by questioning their position.”
Why? Are charedi politicians above reproach? Must all charedim automatically support all the actions of all charedi politicians? What is this – Animal Farm?
“Dalia Itzik, a former Knesset speaker who has been a political ally of the chareidim too and shares their socialist values as does Ben-Eliezer”
If that is true, the real question is why the charedim would consider a vote for someone like Rivlin who does not share those values.
“if they have the opportunity to put some salt on Bibi’s wounds, why not?” Maybe because nekama is a serious aveira?
No, the real question is what is chall doing on a chareidi site? Try your luck on Haaretz’s or Al-Ittihad’s
sites. They share your weltanschauung.
The Yeshiva World s very protective of charliehall. It would not let me post a comment that was mildly unflattering to our socialist-in-residence.